Hearts ......... 2
Rangers ....... 3
The tactical switch made by the Rangers' coach Dick Advocaat at half-time was the major factor in sending Rangers surging to this Tynecastle victory. For the opening period of the second half Hearts were unable to get to grips with the changes made by the Ibrox team and, before they could do so, they were trailing by 3-1 and the game was lost.
So convincing were the
Premier League leaders after the interval that the Finnish goalkeeper Antti Niemi claimed that for more than 20 minutes then they played the best football they have
produced at any time since he joined the Glasgow side.
The tinkering by Advocaat with both personnel and positions, saw Giovanni van Bronckhorst drop into the left back area where
Stale Stensaas had made his first league appearance of the season. The Norwegian went off and Ian Ferguson took over from the Dutchman and added some steel - and no little skill, either - to the midfield area.
Rangers had already been
winning the battle there and with these changes they dominated still further.
Niemi stressed: ''The passing was very good when we started the second half. In my opinion that is the best that the team has played in the time I have been here. It was in that spell we won the match after it had been
difficult for us in the first half. It was not easy for the defence because that line-up had never played together before.
''The way Ian Ferguson took over the midfield role was important. A lot of the credit for the way the team performed after half- time has to go to him.
''It was a good result because Hearts are not easy opposition, though, I have to say they are always a team who try to play football. Even at Ibrox they don't do what other teams do and pull all their players back into defence.''
Niemi was praised by Hearts' manager Jim Jefferies and by his Tynecastle opposite number Gilles Rousset for the stops he made early in the game, including a superb one-handed save from Jim Hamilton during the early minutes when Hearts were in
command.
Niemi almost stopped Gary Locke's header for Hearts' 90-second opener, pushing the header on to a post. But he admitted later: ''The decision to give the goal was right. I think the ball crossed the line when it rebounded.
''It was a little bit unlucky because it might have bounced in another direction on another day. This time it did not and we were a goal behind so early.
''I was able to make some other saves.
''It is sometimes upsetting to read about other goalkeepers coming to the club but, really, I can leave that out of my mind whenever I go on to the field. Then I am able to concentrate fully on the game. I don't let the talk about other goalkeepers affect my confidence.''
Hearts manager Jim Jefferies claimed: ''The saves he made at the start of the game kept them in it. They could have been two, or even three, goals behind before they started to get themselves into the match.
''I thought we lost a couple of bad goals and one of them was down to the condition of the pitch when young Grant Murray lost his footing when he might have been able to clear.
''I was well pleased with the way the team worked until half- time. If we had gone in a goal in front then things could have been different. But they had equalised and they started the second half very well. We just could not get possession and when we did we seemed to give the ball right back to them. A lot of good work just went to waste.''
The giant Frenchman Rousset also praised Niemi when he wondered out loud: ''Why are Rangers supposed to be looking for another goalkeeper when they have such a good one already in place? Niemi is a Finnish international player and he played as an international player today.''
Rangers had gone into the match with serious defensive problems, with Colin Hendry
joining Arthur Numan on the injury list and Scott Wilson
suspended, which was why
Advocaat reshuffled his back line.
The Rangers manager admitted later: ''Obviously we were a little nervous and you could see at the beginning that the defenders were all looking at each other rather than at the opposition.
''Once they settled, though, we began to play well and it was a good performance and a very good result for the team. This is a difficult place to get a victory, remember.''
Stephane Guivarc'h, the
enigmatic Frenchman, scored two of the Rangers' goals while, almost inevitably, Rod Wallace helped himself to the other.
Guivarc'h is still having problems with the frantic pace of the Scottish game, but he looks as if he will develop into a seriously
dangerous goal-getter. Jim Hamilton scored Hearts' second.
Oh, and Neil McCann came on for the last 10 minutes of the game and demonstrated some of the wing skills which had impressed Advocaat enough to spend #2m taking him to Rangers.
Next league games: Hearts - Kilmarnock (a). Rangers - St Johnstone (h).
Talking point
Perhaps the Scottish
Premier League should add the quality of the playing pitch to the many criteria they have for membership. Even Hearts' manager Jim Jefferies did not attempt to defend the conditions at Tynecastle. The surface was a disgrace and it is to the credit of the players that they were able to produce a memorable match considering the
handicap they were under.
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